COUNCIL KEEPS MAILING COSTS LOW : OFFICEHOLDERS SPEND MORE ON FOOD, TRIPS, GIFTS, ETHICS PANEL REPORTS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

City Council members spend more from their officeholder accounts on meals, gifts, travel, political contributions and fund raising than they do on mailers to constituents, according to a report by the Los Angeles Ethics Commission released Monday.

The City Council tentatively voted Friday to place a measure on the April 8 city ballot that would lift the annual fund-raising cap for officeholder accounts from the $10,000 imposed by Proposition 208 to the $75,000 level that previously applied.

In arguing Friday for the higher cap, council members including Jackie Goldberg and Nate Holden said $10,000 is not enough to adequately communicate with constituents through mass mailers.

``To not do something like this (city measure) means you can really communicate with about a third of your constituents a year, one time, and that's appalling, given the need and desire of people in our areas to be informed about what is going on,'' Goldberg said last week.

But the Ethics Commission report said that 10 of the 15 City Council members spent less than $10,000 on ``literature/postage'' for constituent mailers during the 21-month period that ended Sept. 30, 1996.

Overall, their spending on gifts, dinners with constituents, and travel to such places as conventions and seminars far outstripped their spending to mail information to constituents.

``They clearly don't need more than $10,000,'' said Tony Miller of California Common Cause, a co-sponsor of Proposition 208, which put a $10,000 cap on contributions to officeholder accounts.

``These slush funds typically go to anything but communicating with constituents, and when they do send out mailers, they are puff pieces to promote the elected official,'' Miller added.

Prop. 208 permits higher limits on campaign contributions and fund raising for officeholder accounts if they are approved by local voters.

The issue of placing higher limits on the April 8 ballot comes back today to council for a second vote.

Councilman Nate Holden, who the report said spent $10,696 on ``literature/postage'' during the 21-month period, said mailers are not the only reason the $10,000 limit should be raised, and other expenditures justify the increase.

``Mailers are one of the things we can spend the money on, but there are other things to spend it on that are legitimate,'' Holden said. ``I'm convinced the money is needed no matter what the Ethics Commission says.''

Holden spent $4,949 in officeholder funds on meals, saying much of it was for an appreciation dinner for city general managers.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who spent $12,789 on mailers during the 21-month period, said the limit will hurt all means of communication with voters, including advertisements in newspapers and efforts to hold community meetings.

``I would say $10,000 is simply insufficient to service constituents in the way they deserve,'' Ridley-Thomas said.

The Ethics Commission report does not take a position on the officeholder caps. It was compiled instead to give the council and public a better picture of how political officeholder accounts are used, said executive director Rebecca Avila.

Officeholder accounts are allowed to help elected officials do their job as long as the expenditure is not campaign related.

The Ethics Commission report noted that a limit of raising $75,000 annually was set in 1994 as part of a package that toughened disclosure rules and uses of officeholder accounts.

In seeking the $10,000 limit, backers of Proposition 208 said the funds were too often misused to enhance the incumbent's advantage.

The Ethics Commission report found that the 15 council members, mayor, city attorney and city controller combined raised $1.2 million for officeholder accounts and spent $1.1 million in the 21-month period ending Sept. 30, 1996.

Those who spent less than $10,000 on ``literature/postage'' included council members Mike Hernandez, Joel Wachs, John Ferraro, Mike Feuer, Ruth Galanter, Richard Alarcon, Rita Walters, Marvin Braude, Hal Bernson, Richard Alatorre and City Attorney James Hahn and City Controller Rick Tuttle.

Tuttle, Hahn and Alatorre spent nothing on mailers during the period, while Ferraro, Bernson, Alarcon and Braude each spent less than $2,000.

The largest combined expenditures were $232,815 on professional services and consultants, including bookkeepers, followed by $154,499 for mailers, $145,296 for civic/charitable contributions, $118,422 for fund raising, $114,195 for overhead, $56,385 for political contributions to non-city candidates, $51,163 for meals, $51,105 for advertising, $28,535 for travel and $14,644 for gifts.

Avila said some council members have been able to keep mailing costs under $10,000 by sending out mailings at taxpayer expense, which is allowed as long as rules against self-promotion are followed.